What the documents look like
General trade export declaration work generates an export declaration form, a commercial invoice, a packing list, and a contract for every shipment. The three most time-consuming steps are classifying commodity codes, filling in the declaration form, and reconciling freight and insurance charges. The materials arrive from China International Trade Single Window, the customs code library, freight forwarder bills of lading, and enterprise ERP systems. Declaration clerks and customs brokers need to trace any statement in a draft back to a specific document and a specific version during cross-border and multilingual retrieval. Export declarations also feed into export tax refund voucher matching, so a misplaced citation raises the cost of later reconciliation.
The knowledge base search node outputs citations as an array whose length may be zero. When nothing is retrieved, the output path still runs. The citation cap limits the maximum tokens of content cited in one search. The minimum relevance score is a value between 0 and 1 that filters low-relevance results, and it takes effect only under semantic retrieval or result reranking. That threshold filters by score; it does not perform permission or entity isolation, and retrieval itself is not authorization.
Linked knowledge bases must share the same vector model. Bases with different vector models cannot be linked together. During checking, compare the identifiers first and exclude those that do not match. Hybrid retrieval merges multiple result paths through RRF. Reranking requires a rerank model and must be enabled in settings. Image retrieval requires image input and a model that supports the corresponding capability. Multilingual retrieval relies on the cross-language understanding of semantic retrieval, while precise queries for numbers and model codes fit full-text retrieval better.
Hypothetical paper exercise sample. A set of paper materials contains three source sentences. The first: "Export declaration number EX-2024-0471, declaration date 12 March 2024, commodity code 8471300000." The second: "Commercial invoice INV-2024-0312, buyer Northwind Trading, invoice amount USD 48,200, trade term FOB Shanghai." The third: "Packing list PL-2024-0312, 120 cartons total, gross weight 2,400 kg, net weight 2,160 kg." A draft sentence to be judged reads: "This shipment has been declared by the customs broker and released by customs, and tax refund may be processed against EX-2024-0471." The question is whether the three source sentences support that draft sentence.
Constraints at the citation tracing step
The citation output is an array and may be empty. An empty array means the output path still runs; it does not mean the workflow has terminated with an error. Downstream nodes must be checked for how they handle an empty citation array.
The citation cap is measured in tokens, not in a count of items. The minimum relevance score is a 0-1 threshold that applies only under semantic retrieval or result reranking. It filters low-relevance scores. It does not exclude records by business entity, and it does not exclude unauthorized records. Retrieval is not authorization.
Linked knowledge bases must use the same vector model. When checking, compare the vector model identifier of each candidate base against the others, and exclude any base whose identifier does not match. Do not run a cross-model retrieval to compare recall; record the identifier mismatch and exclude.
Hybrid retrieval combines semantic and full-text recall through RRF, which is a fusion process rather than a switch. Reranking requires a rerank model and must be enabled according to settings. Image retrieval requires image input and a model that supports the relevant capability. The optional paths in the overall retrieval flow are not all executed on every request.
Multilingual retrieval depends on the cross-language understanding of semantic retrieval. Precise queries for codes and model numbers fit full-text retrieval better. The minimum relevance score is a filter threshold, not a final ranking rule; after question optimization, hybrid retrieval, image retrieval, or reranking, results may be fused from multiple recall paths and are not necessarily ordered strictly by a single vector similarity.
A pending review does not show that an operation permission is missing. Signing, reaching cooperation, and contract effectiveness are three distinct facts. A quotation validity period does not state a supply period. Do not add authorization or effectiveness clauses to obtain a definite answer; keep the evidence gap explicit.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Hypothetical starting point for this exercise | Reason and comparison method |
|---|---|---|
| Linked knowledge bases | Link only the export document base with the same vector model | The official requirement is that only bases with the same vector model can be linked together; compare the identifier against another base with a different model and exclude it |
| Search mode | Hybrid retrieval | The sample contains both code-type and natural-language queries; compare against pure semantic and pure full-text results |
| Citation cap | Set to 2,000 tokens as a hypothetical starting point | The documented unit is tokens; compare the number of cited items against 800 and 4,000; the starting point is a trial value only |
| Minimum relevance score | Set to 0.3 as a hypothetical starting point | Documented as a 0-1 value effective only under semantic retrieval or reranking; compare the number of items after filtering against 0.2 and 0.5 |
| Reranking | Enable when a rerank model is available | The documentation states reranking requires a model and must be enabled in settings; compare ordering with and without it |
| Question optimization | Enable for multi-turn follow-up scenarios | The documentation states question optimization adds a model call; compare retrieval hits and elapsed time against the disabled state |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieval hit as completed authorization. The input is the draft sentence "tax refund may be processed against EX-2024-0471." The comparison object is the three source sentences. The source sentences state only the declaration number, date, commodity code, invoice amount, carton count, and weights. They do not state that declaration was completed or that customs released the shipment. The observable result is that the draft sentence exceeds what the source supports and must be recorded as unsupported.
- Treating the minimum relevance score as a permission or entity filter. The input is a minimum relevance score of 0.3 together with a document outside the target scope. The comparison object is whether that document is excluded. The observable result is that the threshold filters only low-relevance scores and does not exclude records by business entity or by authorization.
- Forcing bases with different vector models into a joint link. The input is the export document base and another base with a different vector model. The comparison object is the vector model identifier of each base. The observable result is that when the identifiers do not match, joint linking is not performed; record the base as non-conforming and exclude it.
How to verify the setup
- Input the three hypothetical source sentences and the draft sentence. Compare whether "declaration completed," "customs release," and "tax refund may be processed" appear in the source sentences. The observable result is that none of the three appear, so the draft sentence is judged unsupported and the evidence gap is retained.
- Input a paper empty array [] and check downstream handling. Compare whether the downstream node continues to execute when the citation is empty. The observable result is that the output path runs and the downstream node handles the empty citation. Do not claim that a fictional rule retrieval necessarily returns [].
- Input the export document base and another base with a different vector model, together with their identifiers. Compare whether the vector models of the two bases are the same. The observable result is that when they are not the same, the base is excluded and the actual observation is recorded. Do not infer the runtime result of a joint link across models.
This page addresses only general trade export declaration, cross-border materials and multilingual retrieval, and citation tracing. During operational handover, the authorization status of materials, operations, and requests must be kept separate from retrieval or form entry. Retrieval and forms are not authorization execution.